Canadian singer/songwriter Paige Cora captures her journey of self-discovery in “The Good Side of Desire,” a cleansing and hopeful song full of inspiration and reflection.
Stream: “The Good Side of Desire” – Paige Cora
Everyone’s journey looks vastly different, but certain aspects will always remain the same as we venture through our lives: Moments of doubt and uncertainty followed by flashes of understanding and self-knowing, rinsed and repeated on a loop. Canadian singer/songwriter Paige Cora captures her journey of self-discovery in “The Good Side of Desire,” a cleansing and hopeful song full of inspiration and reflection.
Maybe you’re the only one
to break into this cloud
to take a closer look
try and pin me down
Bury the old days
cross our fingers
salt in the wound
bathing in the water
it’s a long road to burn
and what you’re going through
I may never learn
but i’ll see you on the good side of desire
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering the music video for “The Good Side of Desire,” taken off Paige Cora’s debut album Instant in Time. Recently released to physical but not available for streaming until February 14, Instant in Time serves as a stirring introduction to this Canadian dream-pop singer/songwriter; based in Ontario and inspired by everyone from Joni Mitchell’s Blue to Peter Gabriel, Paige Cora wields her tremendous voice and lyrical prowess as sword and shield – or in this case, two swords: As creative as it is cinematic, “The Good Side of Desire” delivers a dramatic, sincere expression from deep within.
“The song is really about self-discovery — when you realize the intangibles in life are far more important than the tangibles,” Cora tells Atwood Magazine. “The production style was inspired by Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill,” constantly walking forward, with a strong guitar presence.”
She continues, “My manager and best friend Peter Miniaci filmed it. We do a lot of creative projects together, and he actually filmed my last video for “Facing the Grass” as well. Peter and I just work from a shot list of ideas, and try to capture it all. I was very fortunate to have gone to a high school, Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary in Toronto, which focused on media arts. I had a film teacher, a photography teacher, an art teacher… Those teachers taught me so many skills that I use every day in my music career. I credit their curriculums with giving me the ability to do so much on my own, and it’s empowering. I edit all my music videos, and learned the software from creating movies in high school. But that’s how it works sometimes, you experience exactly what you need to prepare you for the future. The power and influence of educators is so important.”
Cora sits at a lovely pipe organ in an elegant, gorgeous stone church in Fort Erie, Ontario in her music video. There’s a sense of solitude and oneness permeating the scene: She is alone at an instrument of tremendous size and depth – a vessel that, for who knows how many decades, has guided people in their search for answers; has alleviated hurting souls, taking away their pain if only for a moment; has brought disparate bodies together, in song and prayer. Cora sings of self-discovery and uncertainty, her fingers pressing themselves deep into the organ’s keys for added emotional effect (even if we can’t actually hear the organ itself):
Maybe you’re the only one
to set the record spin
when you write our verse
just when would you begin
waiting in the wings
dark and sombre
watching the play
fall out of order
on the edge of your seat
where the sand and the water meet
ill see you on the good side of desire
“I reached out to a recording engineer in town about his studio. He had an ad on Craigslist, and I was intrigued by the pictures in the ad,” Cora says of her video’s location. “I inquired about his location, only to discover he was located in this beautiful church building, called The Bell Tower. Davis and I soon became chums, and he let me start scouting out shots for a potential music video. The most important reason for choosing the location was the massive pipe organ in the main hall. The beginning of the song sounds like this ethereal otherworldly instrument, and I thought that if we pretended it was coming from the pipes, it would be a nice little imaginative part of the video. As if it was magic.”
Tracing the steps between self-doubt and self-knowing, “The Good Side of Desire” is a cathartic breath of fresh life.
Paige Cora sings with infectious energy and passion, bringing all who listen into her feverish dream of renewal and personal growth. She may be a new face to us, but this is far from the start of her journey; it’s just the point at which she chose to share it with the world — and what a wonderful place to start. Sitting at the brink of the exciting and unknown, “The Good Side of Desire” inspires a brave face and willingness to push forward into whatever the future has in store for us.
i’m built like a child
did it all to survive
but you’re like a four leaf clover
that I found in the wild
you vibrate like a song
any doubt didn’t last too long
so we built up our lives
just one step at a time
i’ll see you on the good side of desire
Watch and listen to “The Good Side of Desire” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and stay tuned for Paige Cora’s debut album Instant in Time out February 14!
Stream: “The Good Side of Desire” – Paige Cora
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